Frase Review: The Content Optimization Tool That Also Writes

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Frase is the best content brief generator available, and it happens to also write articles and optimize them for SEO. That ordering matters. If you buy Frase expecting a Jasper competitor, you’ll be disappointed by the writing quality. If you buy it expecting the fastest path from “I have a keyword” to “I have a well-researched content brief,” you’ll wonder how you ever worked without it.

In our testing, Frase’s content brief feature saved approximately 2-3 hours per article compared to manual SERP research. Multiply that by 10 articles per month and you’re recovering 20-30 hours of work. At $45/month for the Basic plan, that’s roughly $1.50-2.25 per hour saved. The math works decisively in Frase’s favor.

Content Briefs: The Main Event

This is why people buy Frase, and it’s worth explaining in detail.

You enter a target keyword — say, “best email marketing software.” In about 30 seconds, Frase:

1. Pulls the top 20 Google search results for that keyword
2. Analyzes every page’s headings, topics, questions, and statistics
3. Generates a structured content brief showing:
   • Common H2s and H3s used across top-ranking articles
   • Questions that competing articles answer (and that you should too)
   • Statistics and data points cited by ranking pages
   • Topic clusters that top results consistently cover
   • Average word count of ranking content
   • Recommended outline based on the analysis

The output is immediately usable. You can take Frase’s content brief, hand it to a writer (human or AI), and get a strategically sound article back. No more spending an afternoon reading through 20 Google results and manually noting what they cover.

Compared to building content briefs manually in Google Sheets — which is what most SEO professionals do — Frase automates about 90% of the process. The remaining 10% is your editorial judgment about which sections to include, what angle to take, and how to differentiate from existing content.

ELI5: SERP Analysis — Reading what Google already shows for a search term and figuring out what those pages have in common. If 18 out of 20 top-ranking articles about “email marketing” include a section on automation, that’s a signal: Google expects content about email marketing to cover automation. Miss it, and you’re fighting Google’s expectations. Frase does this analysis for you in 30 seconds.

Content Optimization: On Par With Surfer

Frase’s content optimizer works like Surfer SEO’s editor. You write (or generate) content in the editor, and a sidebar shows your optimization score along with:

• Topic coverage — which topics you’ve addressed and which you’re missing
• NLP terms — specific words and phrases that top-ranking content uses
• Word count comparison against competitors
• Heading analysis — are your H2s/H3s covering the right topics?
• Question coverage — which “People Also Ask” questions you’ve answered

In our testing, Frase’s optimization scores closely matched Surfer SEO’s. Articles that scored 75+ in Frase also scored well in Surfer. The two tools analyze SERP data slightly differently, but the end result — guidance on what to include in your content — is comparable.

The key difference: Surfer starts at $89/month. Frase starts at $15/month. If budget is a consideration (and when isn’t it?), Frase delivers 80-90% of Surfer’s optimization value at a fraction of the cost.

ELI5: Content Optimization Score — A 0-100 rating that tells you how thoroughly your article covers its topic compared to pages already ranking on Google. Score a 40? You’re missing major topics. Score an 80+? You’ve covered the subject comprehensively. Frase calculates this by comparing your content against the top 20 Google results. It’s not a guarantee of ranking — Google considers hundreds of factors — but it ensures your content is topically complete.

AI Writing: Decent, Not Outstanding

Frase includes an AI writer that can generate content directly in the optimization editor. It’s convenient and produces usable first drafts, but let’s be honest about where it stands in the pecking order.

Frase’s AI writing vs. the competition:

Metric	Frase	Jasper	Writesonic	Scalenut
Short-form quality	Good	Excellent	Good	Good
Long-form quality	Decent	Strong	Decent	Good
Creativity/voice	Limited	Strong	Moderate	Moderate
SEO awareness	Excellent	Basic	Basic	Excellent

Frase’s AI writing is best described as “competent.” It generates structurally sound, keyword-aware content that reads fine but lacks personality. The sentences are correct, the information is organized logically, and the SEO elements are baked in. What’s missing is the human touch — the voice, the opinion, the unexpected turn of phrase that makes content memorable.

For informational content that just needs to exist and rank — product comparison tables, feature roundups, how-to guides — Frase’s AI writer is perfectly adequate. For content that needs to build a brand voice, persuade a reader, or stand out creatively, you’ll want Jasper or a human writer.

The smart workflow: use Frase’s content brief and optimizer for the research and structure, then write the actual prose yourself (or with Jasper) and optimize it in Frase’s editor.

The Answer Engine

This feature doesn’t get enough attention. Frase’s Answer Engine shows you every question that appears in Google’s “People Also Ask” boxes for your target keyword, plus questions from Quora, Reddit, and other forums.

For content planning, this is gold. Each question is a potential section heading, FAQ entry, or standalone article topic. In our testing, the Answer Engine regularly surfaced questions we wouldn’t have thought to address — and including those answers in our content consistently improved both the optimization score and (we believe) the actual rankings.

ELI5: AI Hallucination in Writing — When AI writes something confidently that is completely made up. Frase’s AI writer does this less frequently than budget tools because its writing is anchored to SERP data — it’s referencing what real articles say about a topic rather than generating from pure imagination. But it still happens. Specific statistics, quotes, and dates generated by any AI writer should always be fact-checked.

Pricing Breakdown

Plan	Price	Articles	Features
Solo	$15/mo	4 articles	Content briefs, optimizer, basic AI writing
Basic	$45/mo	30 articles	Everything Solo + full AI writing
Team	$115/mo	Unlimited	Everything Basic + collaboration, 3 users

The Solo plan at $15/mo is remarkable value — but the 4-article limit is tight. If you’re producing weekly content, you’ll use your monthly allowance in the first week and have three weeks of waiting. Frase knows this, which is why the $45/mo Basic plan exists.

The Basic plan at $45/mo is Frase’s real product. 30 articles per month, full AI writing access, and complete optimization tools. At this price, you’re paying less than Surfer SEO alone ($89/mo) and getting AI writing included.

The Team plan at $115/mo adds collaboration features and unlimited articles. For agencies managing multiple clients, the per-article cost at this tier is negligible.

Pro tip: Frase also offers the AI writing add-on as a separate $35/mo upgrade for the Solo plan. If you want 4 briefs per month with unlimited AI writing on those briefs, $50/mo (Solo + AI add-on) might be your sweet spot.

Who Should Use Frase?

Ideal for:

• SEO-focused bloggers and content marketers who publish weekly
• Freelance content writers who need to research topics quickly for clients
• Small agencies that need content briefs + writing in one tool
• Anyone currently paying for Surfer SEO who also needs AI writing (Frase replaces both)
• Budget-conscious creators who want SEO optimization without the Surfer price tag

Not ideal for:

• Writers who need high-quality long-form prose (Jasper writes better)
• Marketers who need ad copy, email, and social content (Frase is SEO-only)
• Teams that need extensive collaboration and workflow features
• Anyone producing fewer than 4 articles per month (the Solo plan might be overkill)

Frase vs. Scalenut: The Real Comparison

Both tools combine AI writing with SEO optimization. Both target the same user. Here’s how they differ:

Feature	Frase	Scalenut
Content briefs	Best in class	Good
Keyword clustering	Not included	Excellent
AI writing quality	Decent	Good
Content optimization	Excellent	Excellent
Starting price	$15/mo	$39/mo
Best for	Research-first writers	Scale production

Our take: If your workflow starts with research and you want the best content briefs, choose Frase. If you want the most automated keyword-to-article pipeline, choose Scalenut. Both are strong choices — the decision comes down to whether you prioritize research quality or production speed.

The Verdict

Frase is the most efficient content research tool we’ve tested, wrapped in a capable (if not exceptional) AI writing platform. The content brief feature alone justifies the subscription for anyone producing SEO content regularly. The optimization scoring keeps pace with Surfer at a lower price. And the AI writer, while not going to win any prose awards, generates usable first drafts that are structurally sound and SEO-aware.

At $15/mo for the Solo plan, there’s almost no barrier to trying it. At $45/mo for the Basic plan, it’s a genuine bargain compared to the Jasper + Surfer stack it replaces.

The 4.4 rating makes Frase our highest-rated AI writing tool in this category. Not because the writing is the best — Jasper wins on prose quality. But because the complete package — research, optimization, and writing — delivers more value per dollar than any competitor we’ve tested. If you write content that needs to rank in search engines, Frase should be on your shortlist.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Frase better than Surfer SEO? ▼

Frase and Surfer are close competitors. Frase has better content briefs, a lower starting price ($15/mo vs $89/mo), and includes AI writing. Surfer has deeper NLP analysis, more third-party integrations, and a more polished editor. For solo creators on a budget, Frase wins. For agencies and larger teams, Surfer's depth is worth the premium.

Can Frase replace Jasper? ▼

For SEO blog content, partially. Frase's AI writer can produce decent first drafts optimized for search. But for ad copy, email marketing, social content, and high-quality long-form prose, Jasper is substantially better. If you only write SEO content, Frase at $45/mo beats paying for Jasper ($49/mo) plus Surfer ($89/mo) separately.

Is Frase worth $15 a month? ▼

The Solo plan at $15/mo is one of the best values in AI content tools — if you write 4 or fewer SEO articles per month. You get SERP analysis, content briefs, content optimization, and basic AI writing. For bloggers and freelancers producing a weekly article, $15/mo is a no-brainer. You'll need the $45/mo Basic plan if you publish more frequently.

What is Frase's content brief feature? ▼

Frase analyzes the top 20 Google results for your target keyword, then automatically generates a content brief including: common headings used, questions asked, statistics cited, topics covered, average word count, and recommended outline. It takes about 30 seconds and replaces 2-3 hours of manual SERP research.